


Like Mother, Like Daughter

by carolinenite



Series: The Something There AU-verse [2]
Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 09:06:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14185602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolinenite/pseuds/carolinenite
Summary: I know (believe me, I know) that the epilogue for 'Something There' is still outstanding, and honestly, as soon as it's finished, you'll have it.  This was just a super quick piece that tumbled out while I was waiting for a workman this weekend.





	Like Mother, Like Daughter

**Author's Note:**

> I know (believe me, I know) that the epilogue for 'Something There' is still outstanding, and honestly, as soon as it's finished, you'll have it. This was just a super quick piece that tumbled out while I was waiting for a workman this weekend.

Mackenzie leaned against the door of their daughter’s bedroom, alerting neither Will nor the blonde child at his feet to her presence, and watched the scene before her.  Will had his guitar situated in his lap and was fully engrossed in the song he sung to the small girl, who stared up at her father with fascination.  Her hair was still damp from her bath, and snaps keeping her pajama top connect to her footed pants were misaligned, a sure sign that she had insisted on dressing herself for bed.

“Baby, you light up my world like nobody else,” Will sang, and then stopped his lyrics, but continued to strum, “you know, kid, if you tell your mom that I’m singing One Direction songs to you, I’ll never forgive you.”  He grinned at the laugh that his empty threat elicited from his daughter.  “You don’t know you’re beautiful,” he finished the chorus, leaving out several measures in the middle.

“Skipped it, Daddy.”  She scooted closer to him.  “Skipped the middle.”  He sighed heavily, offered his daughter an exaggerated wink, and began to play again.

“Morgan, you light up my world like nobody else.”  He picked up the chorus from the top, grinning wider at the delighted squeal that his daughter let fly at her name being inserted into the song.   This time, he played through the chorus, note for note, marveling for the thousandth time that he not only knew but also could riff his way through the better part of the One Direction catalog.  Mackenzie had been adamant from the beginning that their daughter would have a full appreciation of all boy bands that came before her so that she would fully appreciate the boy bands of her era.  The result was an almost-four-year-old who knew more (to Will’s mind) bad pop music than most thirty year olds.  “That’s what makes you beautiful,” he finished.

Morgan’s small hands clapped together, offering her father adoring applause, and he grinned as he offered a small bow over the guitar.  His head snapped up when Mackenzie’s applause joined their daughter’s.

“I didn’t realize you had such a command of 2010’s pop, Billy.”

He pretended to scowl at her, pursing his lips and developing a snappy comeback.  Before he could respond, small hands were smoothing out his furrowed brow.

“Don’t make that face, Daddy.”  She pressed two fingers into his lips, forcing them back to a relaxed pose.  Before she withdrew her fingers, Will kissed them.  “Better,” she said, sounding to Will just like his Mackenzie.

“Yeah.  Don’t make that face, Daddy.  Wrinkles are harder and harder to cover in our ultra-high definition world.”

Will came off the chair and set the guitar down before sprinting toward Mackenzie, who turned and dashed out of the room, laughing infectiously.  By the time Will caught her, he, too, was laughing out loud.  He caught her around the waist and picked her up off the floor, tossing her over her shoulder, anchoring her to him with one hand and tickling her mercilessly with the other.

“What was that, McHale?  Hmmm?  Something about wrinkles?”  She squirmed and laughed, too overcome to do more than squeal at him.  “Not so smug now, are you?”  He heard the tell-tale swish of Morgan’s blanket being dragged behind her as she trailed after them; he had been keeping her up until Mac got home, but their baby was ready for bed.

He unceremoniously dumped Mackenzie onto their couch, following her down and peppering her face with kisses.  With the pads of his thumbs, he wiped the tears that were starting to fall, a product of uncontrollable laughter.  Her eyes sparkled, and she looked genuinely happy.  Mackenzie looped her arms around Will’s neck, drawing his face close to hers and pressing a kiss to his lips.  The grin that spread across his face was wide and unstoppable, and it became more teeth bumping than kissing, but as her fingers dragged through his hair and across his scalp, his smile faded, and he kissed her properly.  Just as his tongue traced her bottom lip and he felt her sigh into the embrace, small hands clutched at the back of his knees, using them as leverage to climb onto the couch and onto Will’s back.

“So silly, Daddy.”  Morgan peered over Will’s shoulder down at Mackenzie.  “He caught you, Mummy.”

“Yes, he did, baby.”  She reached to tuck her daughter’s hair behind her ear, resting her hand on her daughter’s cheek for a moment.  “But his legs are longer than mine.  I don’t know that it’s a fair footrace.”  Mackenzie’s eyes met Will’s, and she read the unspoken comment about the length of her legs in his expression.  She gave him a knowing smile. 

Morgan stopped to consider Mackenzie’s words for a moment, and then she tugged at Will’s ear until he turned his head to look at the girl on his back.

“Mummy needed a header start.”  Mackenzie seized the opportunity and nodded vigorously.

“Absolutely.  A completely unfair contest.”

Will laughed so hard that tears streamed down his cheeks.  He reached to pull their daughter from his back and settled her between them.  Morgan laid her head on Mac’s chest and tangled her fingers in the hem of her mother’s shirt with a contented sigh.  Mackenzie’s fingers went to work setting the snaps on her daughter’s pajamas to rights, and she made quick work of the issue.

“You’re too silly, Daddy,” Morgan said around a yawn.  “Too, too, silly.”  Her eyes fluttered shut in the next breath as she continued her ‘too silly’ mantra.  Moments later, she was soundly asleep, nestled between her parents.

“You know, if I could fall asleep that easily…”  Mackenzie cut herself off with a long yawn.

“You were saying?”  Will quirked an eyebrow at his wife and shifted so the he laid alongside her, taking the burden off of his knees and elbows.

“Point taken.”  Mackenzie stroked Morgan’s hair, listening to the sound of her breathing for a moment before continuing.  “Leona really seems to think that she wants to retire.”  Will made a grunt of acknowledgment but added nothing.  “I don’t know how my name got put on the list for these meetings.”

“Because you’re brilliant and capable, Mackenzie.  That’s why.”

“I’m glad you think so, because it seems that she wants Charlie to step into her shoes and train Reese up for a few years before he retires.”

“Mmmm,” Will assented.  “Why does that affect my perception of your brilliance, though?”

“Because he wants me to step into his role.”

“President.”

“Yep.”

“Of ACN.”

“Yeah.”

“Alright.”

“Alright.”

They laid together on the couch for several minutes, Mackenzie contemplating her future, Will soaking in the closeness of his family.

“What did you tell him?”

“Charlie?”

“Yeah.”

“That I’d talk to you about it.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Do you think I should do it?”

“Of course you should do it.”

“What about Morgan?”

“What about her?”

Mackenzie turned her head toward Will and frowned.

“I don’t want to miss dinners, and bedtimes, and school plays.”

“We can always put a bedroom for her on the 44th floor.”

“Billy, be serious.  What kind of life is that for a little girl?  Daddy’s a big time news anchor, and Mummy’s president of the network.  What’s the adjustment point for that look like?”

“What’s the alternative?  Daddy’s a big time news anchor, and her mother resents her because she passed up the chance of a lifetime?  Daddy’s a stay-at-home father; Mom’s the president of ACN?”  He nosed into her temple.  “What does this look like for you, hon?”

“I just want to know that we doing the best thing for Morgan.”

“You’ll be a smash at career day.  Does that help?”  At that, Mackenzie chuckled.  Will smiled at the sound.

“You don’t think I’m taking on too much?”

“I think you’re fully capable of handling anything that comes your way.  I don’t see how you can pass up the opportunity.”  The full implications of Mackenzie’s impending career change started to resonate in Will’s mind.  “I will, though,” his voice was gruff, “miss having you in my ear.”

Mackenzie made a noise of protest.

“I hadn’t thought of that.”  She sighed.  “It’s going to be a big adjustment.”

“We’ll handle it.”

“So, that’s a yes?”

“Definitely.”  As he spoke, he levered himself over Mackenzie and off of the couch.  “I’ll put the munchkin to bed.  Did you eat?”

Mackenzie dropped a light kiss to her daughter’s head, and Will lifted the girl off of his wife, settling her against his chest with practiced ease.

“They had dinner sent into the meeting.”

“There’s pizza in the fridge.”  He turned toward Morgan’s bedroom.  “I know you didn’t eat once they pitched you on the president thing.”

“I’m going to change.  I’ll meet you back here in ten?”

“It’s a date.”

Mac smiled at his retreating back at contemplated getting up in search of the pizza.  Will shifted Morgan in his arms, preparing to lay her in her bed, as she stirred and briefly opened her eyes. 

“Not tired, Daddy.”

“How about you just lay here for a little while and see if you get tired then, kid.  Alright?”  Will kept his voice low and soothing and sent up a silent prayer that Morgan would stay asleep.  He pulled the blanket up and tucked it around her, smiling when her small fingers grasped the hem.  “Good night, baby,” he murmured.

“Kiss,” came the sleepy reply. 

He stooped to press a kiss to her forehead before switching off the light and shutting the door to Morgan’s bedroom.  He returned to the living room in search of his wife.  Mackenzie was exactly where he had left her, eyes shut, breathing softly.  He smiled and shook his head, weighing the value of waking her to eat against the benefits of sleeping.  Will slipped his arms around his wife and gently scooped her off the couch.  The physical therapy upon which Mackenzie had insisted when Morgan was first born had done wonders to alleviate the symptoms of his old baseball injuries, and in moments like this, when he was able to play knight-in-shining-armor to his wife, he was supremely grateful.  When Mackenzie didn’t stir, Will shook his head in amusement.  _Like mother, like daughter._

“If only you could fall asleep as easily as Morgan, hon,” he said to the sleeping woman in his arms.  As he laid her on the bed, her eyes fluttered open and a pout formed on her lips.  “What’s the matter?”

“We had a date.  Cold pizza.  Maybe a drink.”

“Let’s call it a breakfast date.”  He kissed her softly and climbed into bed beside her.  “Get some rest.”

“I love you, Billy.”

“I love you, Madam President.” 

A smiled curled Mac’s lips, and she let herself drift back to sleep, utterly content with her life.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this super-short burst of fluff!!


End file.
